APPEAL TO the righteoUS JUDGE. SHIGGAION (IRREGULAR ODE) OF DAVID, WHICH HE SANG UNTO THE LORD CONCERNING THE WORDS OF CUSH THE BENJAMITE.

Who this

IN all probability this Psalm belongs to the days of David's persecution by Saul. Cush was has been much debated. The word may stand for "Ethiopian," and has been thought by some to describe Saul himself in his dark malignity towards the man after God's own heart. Others have applied a similar explanation to another period in David's history; supposing Shimei the Benjamite (2 Samuel xix. 16), or even Sheba of the same tribe (2 Samuel xx. 1.), to be intended. The Psalm is a grand appeal to the righteousness of the Eternal, and is inadequately represented in all the versions. The turn of thought, however, in Mr. Lyte's is very beautiful, and truly evangelical.

LORD, my God, in Thee I trust;

Save, O save Thy trembling dust
From the roaring lion's power,
Seeking whom he may devour :
From a thousand waves that roll
Shipwreck o'er my fainting soul :
God Omnipotent, I flee
From them all to Thee, to Thee.

75.

Thou my inmost wish canst read,
Thou canst help my utmost need ;
Let the world Thy goodness see,
Let them mark Thy grace in me.
Lay the wicked in the dust,
Raise the feeble, guide the just;
Searcher of the heart, I flee
From myself to Thee, to Thee.

God is righteous, God is strong;
Much abused, He suffers long;
Yet if still His love we spurn,
Love at last to wrath will turn.
O the frown of the I AM!

O the terrors of the LAMB!
God of grace and hope, I flee
From all else to Thee, to Thee.

H. F. LYTE.

PSALM VIII.

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN UPON GITTITH (THE LYRE OF GATH,
OR, PERHAPS, THE WINE-PRESS STRAIN).

A PSALM OF DAVID.

HIS Psalm has generally been attributed to David's earlier life, when with his father's flock he had leisure to watch the stars, or to consider the wonders of animate or inanimate nature. Its topic is the littleness and greatness of man; and in the spirit of perhaps unconscious prophecy, the Psalmist sets forth the humiliation and exaltation of Christ. See the inspired comment on the Psalm, Hebrews ii. 6-9. This application has guided the authors of our metrical versions. Some, like Lyte, have separated the two trains of thought; others, like Watts and Wesley, have happily combined them.

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN UPON MUTH-LABBEN (PERHAPS
TO THE TUNE "DEATH TO THE SON.”)
A PSALM OF DAVID.

AVID here gratefully commemorates the Divine judgment upon his enemies, and in a yet loftier strain declares the righteousness of God as shown in the overthrow of all evil men and things, and in the deliverance of the humble and oppressed. That the Psalm refers to some victory achieved over the heathen is manifest, but it is not so easy to determine its precise application.

"So it is in the Hebrew."

This is sometimes reckoned among the alphabetical Psalms (see on Psalm xxv.); and by some critics, following the Septuagint Version, has been joined with Psalm x. This arrangement, however, is unlikely, as the cry of distress would naturally precede rather than follow this song of triumph. It should be observed that the alphabetical arrangement is not complete.

The following version, though brief and incomplete, expresses the prevailing spirit of the Psalm. Wrath and mercy from the judgment-seat. C.M.

WITH my whole heart I'll raise my

song,

Thy wonders I'll proclaim;

Thou, sovereign Judge of right and wrong,
Wilt put my foes to shame.

I'll sing Thy majesty and grace:
My God prepares His throne,
To judge the world in righteousness,
And make His vengeance known.

Then shall the Lord a refuge prove

For all the poor opprest;

To save the people of His love,
And give the weary rest.

The men that know Thy name will

trust

In Thine abundant grace ;

For thou hast ne'er forsook the just,

Who humbly sought Thy face.

Sing praises to the righteous Lord,
Who dwells on Zion's hill;
Who executes His threatening word,
And doth His grace fulfil.

DR. WATTS.

PSALM X.

HERE is no superscription to this Psalm; a fact which has been supposed to indicate its connexion with Psalm ix. There is, however, as we have seen, no real ground for this inference. The Psalm indicates a state of things in which wrong and oppression are triumphant, and appeals to God against the vauntings of tyrannical iniquity. To adapt it to the circumstances of the Church in every age, it must be generalised as the authors of the two versions appended have done, not without success. Each has chosen separate prominent points of the Psalm; and the two combined well represent its meaning.

We'll trust Thee, though Thy face be hid, Reign Thou in righteousness and power,

Second Version, continued.

Arise, O Lord, their rage control,
Awe down the swelling wave:
Arise to help the poor in soul,
And snatch him from the grave.

Thy grace prepares the heart to pray,
And hear its humble plea :
Arise, to be the trembler's stay,
Arise, to rescue me!

H. F. LYTE.

PSALM XI.

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN. A PSALM OF DAVID.

HIS brief Psalm, which is probably to be referred to the time of Absalom's rebellion consists of two parts. In the former, David quotes the timid counsel of those who counsel flight; in the latter, he declares his unshaken trust in God. Our metrical translations hardly do justice to this transition of thought. Lyte's version finely brings out the Psalmist's confidence in God, but the rebuke of faithless fear expressed in the first verse is hardly given. Wesley's rendering is, on the whole, more faithful to the strain of the Psalm, and gives adequate expression to the terrible severity of verse 6.